Nonresident parents in Beijing have been signing a petition to fight a policy that will continue to limit their children's eligibility to take the national college entrance exam in the city. Twenty-six of them jointly submitted a formal request for an administrative review to the Ministry of Education on Jan 11.

 

This came after the Beijing Municipal Commission of Education issued what it called a "transitional" policy on Dec 30, under which nonresident children cannot take the college entrance exam in the city within the next two years.

 

"I was angry and heartbroken," said Meng Fanling, a nonresident mother and parent volunteer in Beijing. "Our efforts and fighting for all these years have turned into nothing."

 

For the past three decades in China, high school graduates could only take the national college entrance exam, known as gaokao, in their home provinces, where their household registration, or hukou, were issued. But one in six Chinese citizens no longer lives where their hukou is registered, according to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics for 2011.

 

Having to return to one's home province to be eligible to take the exam has been a huge burden for hundreds of thousands of families.

 

While nonresident parents were disappointed in Beijing's Dec 30 policy, on the other hand, Liu Yang, a native Beijinger, has been rallying opposition to these parents. His blog and micro blog have tens of thousands of followers.

 

"I feel sorry for the migrant families, but it is not simply an issue about education," Liu said. "It's a matter of the city's population capacity. It just cannot take in more migrants and give them equal rights."

 

Name

Email

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (Registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment